Rage and his group made their way toward the mine; his mind was torn between worrying about Jimmy and the task ahead of him; all the info he managed to gather from the elder was that this mine was very important to Oakwood; it had once served as the cornerstone of the town's economy until Fangmaw and the wolves claimed it as their den, all the miners there were killed except two dwarven miners who narrowly escaped.
"This makes no sense" Rage thought to himself, "Dwarves aren't agile, and I'm pretty sure they can't hide from the wolves, let alone outrun them; they reek of rum; the scent should've given them away".
"Whatchu thinking about" Sensei asked interrupting Rage's thoughts.
"It's nothing" Rage answered dismissively, "Let's just focus on the task".
After a short walk, they found themselves at the base of a large hill, a mine carved into its side extending inwards; darkness loomed past the dimly lit entrance with a single torch burning on the wall, so they couldn't see much past the entrance.
Stepping up, Sensei grabbed the torch from the wall and raised his shield, "In we go" he called out to the rest.
Sensei and Varon took the lead; the group traversed through several rooms, but to their surprise, there were no traces of either miners or wolves. The eerie silence of the mine only added to their growing sense of unease as they continued their exploration.
"Huh, that's weird" Sensei mused, "Where did the wolves go?".
"The corpses aren't here either; even if the wolves ate them, there should've been some remnants" Rage added, "I was also thinking earlier that it's weird two dwarves survived this; wolves have an exceptional smelling sense and are extremely agile, if it's an elf or a human, or even an armed dwarf I would have believed them, but I'm not convinced they managed to escape without a scratch like that with a couple of pickaxes."
CLICK-
Something clicked beneath Sensei's feet; the floor suddenly split beneath his feet. Sensei and Varon both fell to a lower floor.
Sensei grunted as he landed on his back; hearing Rage startled with his steps hurrying towards the opening, he tried to call out for Sensei before the floor closed before him, separating them from the rest.
"Ughh" Sensei groaned as he tried to stand up.
"Quite the fall" he said to Varon, "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay, my lord. Are YOU okay?" Varon replied, helping Sensei to his feet.
"It looks like we got separated; what is this place?" Sensei questioned, scanning his surroundings.
They found themselves standing in a seemingly endless corridor, its length rivaling that of a grand castle. The walls on either side adorned with flickering torches, casting an eerie orange glow. The roof overhead was arched, creating an illusion of depth. The seamless stone floor echoed every step they took, adding to the mystery and intrigue surrounding them.
"What is this place?" Sensei questioned himself, "And why haven't Rage mentioned it? Is it possible that the elder didn't know of its existence?"
"It looks like a secret passage; stay on your guard, my lord" Varon replied, stepping in front of Sensei as they started walking in the same direction they were heading before they fell.
After walking for a while, an archway came into view. To the side, there was a spiral staircase leading both ways; upon closer inspection, they heard two people engaged in a conversation beyond the archway, seemingly making their way toward them; in a quick reaction, both headed toward the spiral staircase, hiding just half a floor down, close enough to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"I didn't think these ol' meat heads could pull it off; they're finally being useful" one of the voices said to the other.
"Same, the commander is going to be very pleased about this" the other voice replied.
"Where have you moved the miners?" the first voice questioned.
"They're being transported back to Ironpeak Fort; we can't let the slaves die here; you know the demand is high these days" the other voice replied before they were too far for Sensei and Varon to hear.
"Slavery? So this corridor leads back to that Ironpeak Fort?" Sensei questioned.
"Seems like it, my lord; the elder probably has no idea about what is going on here either" Varon replied.
"We have to go back quickly before we are seen" Sensei said looking around, "But how do we get out of here?" he continued.
"Since we fell down, I think we can make it back up through these stairs, my lord" Varon replied.
"Uh- y-yes, Varon, obviously; let's move then" Sensei said with a hint of embarrassment.
They started going up the stairs, which seemed to go further than the distance they fell from. Alas, they kept following it until they arrived in a vast chamber. Divided into sections by walls, the space housed various rooms. Near the main entrance lay a slumbering dwarf deep in his sleep.
Sensei crouched, trying to muffle the sound of his armor, gesturing for Varon to do the same.
Varon followed suit, edging toward the nearest room. Sensei took a peek inside through a small opening that was obstructed with iron bars; in the room were three men, all in mining clothes, their bodies weary and tired; judging by their posture, they didn't seem to notice Sensei at first, but after a moment one of them who was sat at the tight room's corner met his eyes, Sensei put one finger over his lips, gesturing for the man to keep quiet until he found a way to get them out.
After inspecting the chambers more, he noticed a set of keys dangling from the slumbering dwarf's belt. The keys seemed old and rusty, but he was sure they were the keys to the miners' rooms.
"Grab me the key, make sure he doesn't wake up" Sensei whispered to Varon, pointing at the slumbering dwarf.
In a blink, Varon was standing over the dwarf, his energy alerting the dwarf of his presence.
As the dwarf woke up startled, the last thing he saw was Varon's face as he buried a dagger into his neck before he closed his eyes again.
Varon grabbed the keys and made his way back to Sensei.
Sensei took the keys from Varon, "Good job" he whispered as a smile was drawn on Varon's face.
Sensei carefully tried the keys on the door until one of them clicked.
"Hurry!" he whispered to the miners; the other two miners were startled but quickly understood the situation.
Sensei opened the rest of the doors one by one, releasing the miners and gathering them in the middle of the chamber.
As he opened the last door, a voice came from beyond the entrance, "Bromil, you oaf, are you sleeping again?" the voice yelled.
Sensei looked back as another dwarf entered the chamber; they locked eyes briefly before the dwarf realized the situation, "INTRUDERS!" The dwarf shouted as he started running towards the exit.
"Varon!" Sensei yelled quickly before Varon started chasing after the dwarf; as Varon caught up, the dwarf had already rang a giant bell in a carved-out alcove in the hillside.
Varon quickly plunged his blade into the dwarf's chest before throwing him outside.
Sensei heard the clinking of armor as more dwarves made their way up the spiral staircase; he grabbed his shield and broadsword and positioned himself between the stairs and the miners; after a moment, the dwarves came into view, seemingly endless in numbers as they poured out the staircase charging towards Sensei.
With a quick reaction, he bashed the first dwarf with his shield, slashing across his chest as he rotated his body to shield a stab from another; he killed the first three dwarves so quickly that the others started taking a step back in caution.
Varon made his way back into the chamber, "I'm sorry, my lord, I have failed to catch up to-" Varon tried to say before he saw Sensei standing against the hoard of Dwarves; without a word, he quickly jumped into position aiding Sensei as they both started cutting through the dwarves making their way down the stairs.
On the other side of the cave, Rage saw an unnatural amount of EXP being funneled.
DEFEATED DWARVEN SOLDIER LV.40 +400XP
DEFEATED DWARVEN SOLDIER LV.40 +400XP
DEFEATED DWARVEN SOLDIER LV.40 +400XP
There was no way that Jimmy's group encountered dwarves in the forest, and in no way could Nyx's group handle level 40s at their current level, so he quickly concluded that Varon and Sensei were in danger.
"Phoenix, stomp the floor; we need an opening!" Rage called out to Phoenix, who was standing a little to the back.
"Stand back!" Phoenix gestured before he took a deep breath and slammed his leg down; a slight vibration echoed through the cave, but the floor didn't budge.
"FUCK!" Phoenix yelled as he gathered his strength and stomped it once more, again the floor didn't budge, after the fifth stomp, a crack started to form on the floor, urging Phoenix to continue trying to break it down.
NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: EARTHQUAKE (F).
Phoenix's status window popped, alerting him of his new skill; he didn't bother looking and gathered all his strength into the last stomp; he raised his leg and slammed it down again; this time, an earthquake occurred violently, shaking the very walls of the cave, the crack in the floor quickly opened beneath their feet as they jumped down before the cave collapsed on their head.
They looked around and found themselves in a large corridor, seemingly endless, going both ways.
Rage concentrated for a second, trying to listen for any sound or feel any movement from either way; after a moment, he felt the presence of Sensei and Varon coming from his left.
"This way!" he yelled as his status window appeared.
NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: DETECTION (F).
Back at the chamber, Sensei and Varon made their way down the staircase with the miners waiting in the chamber; as they reached the corridor, they found themselves surrounded from all directions, as the archway and the right passage were blocked off with dozens of dwarves, suddenly they all felt a violent shake; most of the dwarves fell off their feet, giving them an advantage. Sensei quickly stabbed two dwarfs before they could stand up, with Varon killing five more before they dashed towards the right passage.
"That was hella lucky; that could've been an ugly situation" Sensei said through his shallow breaths as they dashed through the corridor.
After running for a while, they took a break to catch their breath, "We can't lose them in a place that goes only one way" Sensei said to Varon as he turned around to face the other direction.
"I would gladly give my life to ensure your safety, my lord" Varon replied, holding his sword tightly.
"Well, don't be so grim, you bastard; I don't wanna die yet" Sensei scoffed, wiping the sweat off his forehead, "Here they come!" he yelled out as the dwarves started to appear into view.
In a desperate attempt to buy some time to think of a plan; he remembered having his unique ability; he gained it after the clan advancement, but he never had the chance to use it.
He raised his shield up. "Ironclad Guardian!" he yelled, his shield projecting a much bigger version of itself, releasing a violent gust of wind that knocked all the dwarves back except one, a red-haired long-bearded dwarf whose armor stood out the most.
"Ah, hello commander" Sensei smirked, locking eyes with the dwarf.